The Snake and The Flower
by Ramzes
Summary: You want me to ask Scorpius Malfoy whether he likes you or not? Forget it! A sequel to Never Alone.
1. The Awkward Question

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

**Hello! Yesterday, I was writing the fourth chapter of my story Never Alone, when the idea suddenly struck me and so, here I am, writing a new two or three-shot, I'm not quite sure. ****It is something like a sequel to Never Alone. I hope you're going to like it!**

Chapter 1

Lily Potter ran a hand through her hair, took a deep breath and entered the library. She saw him immediately – very few people in this school had the same silver-blond hair like Scorpius Malfoy – a sixth year Slytherin, her brother's best friend and undoubtedly, the most gorgeous guy at Hogwarts. He was sitting in the back of the library, engrossed in his book. His face showed deep concentration, one silver lock had fallen across his forehead without him noticing. Lily went to him. "Hi, Scorpius," she said.

He looked at her. "Hello, Lily. Are you looking for Albus?"

She shook her head. "Actually, I was looking for you. You see, the thing is, I need help. I have a problem with my Potion essay and I wondered if you - ?"

Scorpius looked at his own Charms book and suppressed a sigh. Then, he looked at Lily's red hair and shining brown eyes and found himself smiling. It was impossible not to smile in her presence – she must have been born with the ability to make everyone around her happy.

Yet, he had homework of his own to finish. "Can't you ask Al?"

Lily frowned. "I can't. He will mock at me for not grasping such a simple concept," she lied.

Scorpius sighed again. "He won't, but okay," he said, "let's see what I can do."

Lily left an hour later and headed straight for Gryffindor Tower with a happy smile on her face. The person she wanted to see was right there, in the common room.

"Hey, what happened?" her cousin, Rose Weasley, asked, closing her textbook. "You're practically beaming!"

"Do you think he fancies me?" Lily asked, instead of answering, and Rose laughed.

"I have no idea who he is, but I'll bet that he _does_ fancy you," she said sincerely. There was not a single boy at Hogwarts who did not fancy the lively, bright, _beautiful_ Lily Potter.

Lily grinned, obviously pleased with the answer. "I think that he might come to like me," she confessed, "but I'm not completely sure that he does. He hasn't asked me to go out with him, but as long as I know, he hasn't asked any girl yet, so – "

Rose's curiosity rose up. "He hasn't asked anyone out? And who is this strange guy, may I know?"

Lily blushed. "Scorpius."

Rose's textbook fell on the floor. "Scorpius, like in _Scorpius Malfoy_?"

"The very same one."

"Scorpius, our friend? Al's best friend?"

"Exactly."

"Scorpius Malfoy?"

"Close your mouth, Rosie, you're going to swallow some poor fly."

"But, Scorpius Malfoy? The guy never dates anyone!"

"I told you that."

"And you fancy him?"

"I do."

"But, but he – he doesn't fancy girls!"

"Oh. You mean, he fancies guys?"

"_No_!" Rose's face had become so red that it rivaled Lily's hair. "I just mean – well, I don't know what I mean. Does he like you back?"

"You have to find out."

"_What?"_

Lily smiled at her cousin. "I said, you have to find that out."

"And how am I supposed to do this?"

"Ask him."

Rose stared at her long and hard, trying to understand what Lily meant. "You want me to ask Scorpius Malfoy whether he fancies you or not?" she finally asked.

"Yes."

"Forget it!"

"But you're his friend! Surely you can do this for me?"

"Forget it!"

"Rosie – "

"Lily – "

Silence.

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**An hour later…**

"If it's not a Potter, it's a Weasley," Scorpius muttered. "I'll never finish this essay."

"Hi, Scorpius."

"Hi, Rose."

"Can I talk to you?"

"Can't you wait until tomorrow? This essay is really important and in case that you don't know, your cousin did not let me finish it."

"I know, I know, that's why I am here," Rose muttered and Scorpius could not help but notice the flush of her cheeks.

"Hey, are you ill?"

"What? No, no, I'm not. Actually, I wanted to ask you something. Lily wanted to know the answer."

"Oh. Go ahead, then. Ask."

Rose blushed even more. "Doyoufancyher," she asked, twisting a lock of her bushy brown hair between her fingers.

"What?"

"I said, 'Do you fancy her?'" the girl repeated.

Scorpius turned back to his essay. "No," he answered simply.

"No?" Rose could not believe her ears. "You don't fancy Lily?"

"No, I don't."

"Not even little?"

Scorpius frowned and crossed a whole paragraph out of his parchment. "Not in the least."

"Really?"

The blond boy sighed with exaggerated impatience without moving his head to look at her. "What's wrong with you, Gryffindors, anyway?" he asked. "How many times do I have to repeat the word, before it finally penetrates your mind? I – do – not – fancy – Lily – Potter. I – never – fancied – Lily – Potter. Is it clear now?"

"But I thought – "

Scorpius looked at her sharply. "You thought I fancied Lily?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Well, yes."

"Come on!"

He shoved his essay into his bag and took it with one hand, holding Rose's hand with the other. "Let's get out of here!"

"Scorpius!" she hissed. "Let me go!"

"The hell I will! You and I, we have a lot of explaining to do."

"Fine, we'll talk, but let me go! Everyone is laughing at us!"

Scorpius looked around. She was right: everyone in the library was looking at them with interest. He cursed under his breath and released Rose's hand. Pretending not to notice the looks that they were receiving, they left and by an unspoken agreement, went to the corridor that led to the Slytherin dungeons. When they finally stopped, Scorpius' anger seemed to have abated. He sighed tiredly. "Does Lily really want to know whether I fancy her or not?"

"Yes."

"But why?" he asked, and Rose could see in his eyes that he really was confused. She sighed tiredly.

"You're hopeless, do you know? Because she fancies you, silly. What other reason can she have?"

The Slytherin looked thunderstruck. "She fancies me?"

"Yes."

"Oh," he said softly, the surprised look never leaving his eyes. "Oh."

Rose felt angry again. "Really, why do you think she followed you like a puppy all those weeks? Why do you think she came to you today?"

"Her essay – "

"Oh, _please_! She could have written it half-asleep and even if she couldn't, she has Albus, me. James, Fred and at least four other Weasleys here to help her, and yet she came to you."

"Because she – "

"Because she fancies you, you dolt!" Rose felt like hitting him for his disbelief that someone might feel attracted to him. She still remembered the painfully shy boy that she and Albus had befriended all those years ago, always being condemned because of his father's past deeds. He had been used to being alone, to being avoided. He had made friends here, yes, but he's never asked a girl out – was his shyness the reason?

"Lily- fancies – me," Scorpius repeated, as if he could not quite believe this.

"I thought you fancied her too."

"You thought – Rose, it's Lily."

"I know who she is."

"But it is Lily. I've known her since she came here, when she was eleven."

"But she's not eleven now," Rose explained patiently.

"No, she's all grown up," Scorpius agreed. "I know that many guys fancy her." He kept silent for a while. "But I'm not one of them."

Rose blinked. "But, Scorpius, I've seen the way you look at her."

"And how do I look at her? Please, do tell."

"Well, when we're having lunch, you can't stop staring at the Gryffindor table," Rose said.

By some reason, her answer infuriated him. "And of course, Lily is the only girl sitting at the Gryffindor table!" he said through clenched teeth.

"No – of course no – Scorpius!" Rose gasped. "You fancy another girl! You do!"

"I never said that!" he replied defiantly.

"You didn't need to .Who is she? Why don't I know anything about this? For how long the two of you – "

"Rose – "

"I can't believe nobody told me!"

"Rose, I am not dating anyone," Scorpius said harshly. "So, go away to your Ryan, or Rob, or whoever, and leave me alone."

She suddenly gave him a strange look and the anger left her face. He sighed. "Look, Rose, I'm really sorry, I am. It's just, when you said that you thought I fancied Lily because of the way I look at the Gryffindor table – it got me angry, that's all. It's just, you got it all wrong. When I look at your table, sometimes I want – "

She kept looking at him. "Sometimes you want – ?" she prompted him.

"It's nothing."

"I know what you want," Rose said confidently.

"You don't know."

"I do."

"Tell me, then –"

"To kiss me," Rose whispered. "Like this."

Before he knew what was going on, he felt two soft full lips touching his own. He might not have much experience with girls – well, he had no experience with them – but he knew what he had to do now.

When they finally separated, gasping for breath, he looked at her and smiled. "Do you want to come to Hogsmead with me?" he asked, and her happy smile suddenly disappeared.

"I can't."

"But I thought – " he started, confused

"Scorpius, I can't date you. Not now, when I know my cousin fancies you."

"But don't _you_ fancy me either?"

"That's not the matter. Lily said she fancied you first. I can't go out with you now."

"But can't you understand that I don't want to go out with Lily?" he asked gently, because the distress on her face made him feel terribly. "I want to go out with you."

"I know, I know. It's just – complicated. She's my cousin. I can't do this to her."

"Rose, even if it wasn't for you, I would have never, _ever_ asked Lily out. She is not my type. You are."

"I know, I know – "

"And what are we doing now?"

She gave him a miserable look. "I don't know."

_Well, it was obvious that there must be something that she doesn't know_, Scorpius thought_. But why did it have to be this, of all things?_

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**A. N. So, what do you think? Leave me a review? Please?**

11


	2. Failing Plans

_Disclaimer: Look at the previous chapter._

**Th****anks for all your reviews, you really made me feel like my work is worth something!**

Chapter 2

**Two weeks**** later...**

"Rose?"

"Yes?"

"She's here again."

Rose sighed, not looking away from her Charms homework. She already knew who Scorpius meant.

"Rose, if only you'd let me – "

"Don't even think of that! Do what we talked about and all will be fine."

Still, when Lily approached their table, she stood up. "I'm ready with my essay," she announced. "See you later, Lily. Bye, Scorpius."

And she left the library, intending to finish her homework in Gryffindor common room, instead of here.

It was one thing to ask Scorpius to be gentle with Lily and quite another to sit there and watch, while her cousin was trying to make Scorpius fall for her.

"I have to go too," Scorpius said, and started collecting his things.

"Hey, Scorpius?" Lily asked.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

_Finally_! Scorpius was delighted to hear this question because that meant that he could delicately show her that he was not interested in going out with her. "No, I am not," he said. "We have a great Transfiguration homework for Tuesday and I haven't even started it yet. Besides, the girl that I hope to date soon is staying here too, so Hogsmeade is not attractive to me right now."

Her eyes darkened with something like disappointment and Scorpius felt very bad for that, because hurting Lily was the last thing that he wanted, yet it was inevitably: he did not fancy her and he had to help her snap out of her illusions. That would be the best for her – and for him, too, because he wanted to be able to go out with Rose.

"Who is she?" Lily asked.

Scorpius shook his head. "I can't tell you."

"Come on, I won't tell anybody!"

"I know you won't. I just can't." He could vividly imagine her face, if he told her that his love interest was her own cousin.

"Is she in your year?" Lily wanted to know, and Scorpius wondered what he should do now. He decided that it would be better if he did not give her any clues, so he just refused to answer.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be a bad decision, because her eyes started shining again.

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**Later this evening...**

Rose felt a hand grabbing her arm on her way to the Great Hall. She did not recoil, nor did she cry in surprise, because she knew the touch.

"Come with me," Scorpius whispered in her ear, and she nodded reluctantly. Having her assurance that she would accompany him, the boy released her arm and went outside, turning at the first corner. Not even a minute later, Rose stopped next to him. He saw her face and realized that she knew why he had wanted to meet her.

"Rose, it's not working,' he said.

"I know," she sighed. "She came back more hopeful than ever. What on earth did you tell her, Scorpius?"

"I just told her that there was a girl that I fancied."

"She thinks you've invented this."

Scorpius blinked. "She what –? Why on earth would she think that I am lying to her?"

"Because you didn't want to give her any details. She thinks you've said the first thing that came to your mind to hide the fact that you like her."

Scorpius looked at her as if she were mad. "Sweet Merlin! Rose, this is madness. The whole gentle thing is not working. Finally, we'll find ourselves in a bigger mess than we would have been if you had only let me tell her that it's you that I fancy, and not her."

"No, no, no!" Rose seemed appalled by the idea. 'It would have worked perfectly, if you had told her that – " She fell silent.

Scorpius felt his advantage and used it. "If I what? If I had told her that I fancy a girl my year? How much time do you think she would have needed to figure it out and find out that it's you I meant?"

Absentmindedly, Rose put a lock of her hair in her mouth and started sucking at it. "Well, then we'll have to find another way to make her know that you aren't interested in her."

"Not one that includes gentleness and tactfulness, I hope," Scorpius said. "We already tried that and see where we are now."

Rose shrank him with a look. "The plan was perfect!" she insisted, "You just made it all wrong. And besides, if you had only told me about your feelings earlier, everything would have been in its place."

"Really?" Scorpius felt his blood pounding in his ears. _So, I am the one to blame now? No way!_ "And when was I supposed to tell you? While you were snogging that Ravenclaw guy, Rob?"

"Leave him out of this!" Rose snapped. "You should have told me ages ago and then we wouldn't have been in this mess right now – "

"Well, you might have told me about your feelings for me, am I right?" Scorpius pointed. "Of course, if you have those feelings," he added bitingly.

Rose's eyes narrowed. "And what was that supposed to mean?" she wanted to know. "You think that I don't have any real feelings for you, is that it?"

"You know, Rose, I'm starting to doubt it."

She sighed and the anger left her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just don't want to hurt her. She's the baby in the family, she's never been hurt and I don't want to be the first one who would cause her pain."

Scorpius reached for her and she snuggled in his arms. He buried his face in her hair. "Are you cold?" he asked worriedly, finally noticing that she was only in her jumper and jeans – not a great protection against the sharp wind. "I shouldn't have dragged you out like this."

"I'm not cold," Rose lied. "Just hold me like this a bit longer."

She could not bring herself to tell him the truth – how much Lily's behavior had hurt her, the way Lily had debated with herself aloud about who the mysterious girl that Scorpius supposedly fancied could be. Rebecca Wood, Elizabeth Arden, Mandy Thomas – everyone except for Rose. Of course, Rose knew how the rest of the school saw her – a bookworm, an attractive girl, but not a great beauty. She was too far in her studies to have time and interest for make-up and girlish giggles. Yet, the thought that Lily did not find her pretty enough to even consider that Scorpius could like her, was painful.

"You're trembling," he said. "We should go back inside."

"I'll go first," she said. There was no need to say anything more: by their unspoken rule, he would wait a few minutes before following her.

Scorpius nodded silently in her hair, and Rose detached herself from him and raised a hand to his cheek. "Soon, it'll be all over, I promise," she said.

"I just want to be able to go out with you openly and not like this – hiding in the shadows, as if we're committing the most horrible crime imaginable."

"Everything will be settled soon," Rose assured him, "I promise. In fact, I've got a plan. If pushing her aside delicately did not work, we'll try something different."

Having experienced from firsthand what Rose's plan 'Make Lily Forget about You" had led to, the mistrust in Scorpius' eyes was completely understandable.

"Don't give me that look," Rose said, having correctly read his thoughts, "I know what I am doing."

"Rose, I don't think you do."

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**A week later...**

Lily shuddered under the sharp December wind and took the shorter way from Hagrid's hut to Hogwarts – she did not want to be caught breaking the curfew. If she came upon Rose, her cousin would give her a lecture about breaking the rules only when it was really necessarily. Rose in her Prefect mood was not a nice companion, but there was an option that was even worse – being caught by Scorpius Malfoy. Lately, he'd been behaving as if she was just a nuisance to him – being rude to her, cutting her short, when she had tried to ask him for help with her homework, telling her that right now, he did not have the time to babysit her. _A Malfoy is a Malfoy, I suppose_, she thought, irritated. It was only a matter of time, when Albus would see that, too, and would break any contacts with him.

She entered the castle as quietly as possible and took the shortest way to Gryffindor tower. When she had almost reached the last staircase, she froze where she stood and her eyes widened, when she saw the couple that was standing on the upper landing.

Scorpius and Rose. Kissing.

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**A. N. So, what do you think? Let me know whether I should continue this or not!**

7


	3. Rose Discovered

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. Pity._

**Thanks to those who reviewed, it really means a lot.**

Chapter 3

"Come on, Scorpius, we're supposed to be patrolling," Rose said, making a slight move to disentangle herself from Scorpius' embrace.

He did not let her go. "I think I can offer you a nicer way to spend your time," he said. "Interested?"

"Like what?" she teased.

"Like this."

She might be the first girl he had ever kissed in his life, but he was a quick learner, all their teachers said so. When he let her breathe again, Rose was looking at him with blear eyes, a happy smile on her lips. "Isn't it more interesting?" Scorpius asked innocently.

"Far more interesting, Scorpius, far more interesting," Rose giggled, "but it not exactly a part of our duties. Let me go now. I mean it."

He sighed and finally released her.

"Oh, don't pout. Be nice, Scorpius, and you'll have a nice kiss for – "

Her voice faded – she saw her cousin.

Lily's face had become as pale as a ghost's and her eyes were widened and darkened with pain. Scorpius noticed the horror in Rose's face and turned around. For a moment no one moved, because they were all afraid what would happen, if they did.

Scorpius went to Lily and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lily – "

His voice was very gentle. The sympathy in his eyes dragged her away from her numbness. She pushed his hand aside and turned to the staircase.

"Lily, wait!" Rose cried, when her cousin rushed past her.

Lily turned around and Rose froze where she stood. Lily's face had colour again – deep, bright red.

"Lily – "

"Liar and traitor!" Lily raised her hand and since Rose had not expected the strike, she staggered and fell on the floor. "Slut!"

"Enough!" Scorpius cut in and seized her shoulders. "You have no right to hit her and you can't talk to her like this!"

"Never mind," Rose said from the floor and raised herself on her knees – she was not sure she could stand on her feet right now.

"Oh, but I do mind. Be angry with me as much as you like," Scorpius turned to face Lily. "I wish I could explain how much I'm sorry, if I hurt you in any way. But what happened here is between Rose and I. It is none of your concern. Besides, Rose is not the one to blame. Be angry with me, if you want to –"

"I want to." Lily's eyes were flashing dangerously with anger and maybe with tears. She stepped aside. "You didn't need to make a fool of me. You knew I had feelings for you. Merlin, you knew and you still – With her, of all people. She knew, she knew, and yet – I hate you! I hate both of you!"

She rushed past him and ran up the stairs.

"Dear Merlin!" Scorpius helped Rose stand up and then ran his fingers gently across her reddened cheek. "I'm sorry, Rose. I'm so sorry. She didn't mean it – none of it."

"She does. She truly believes what she said," Rose whispered. "Every word of it. I have to find her."

"I'll come with you."

"No." She pulled back. "I have to do it alone. She shouldn't see us together, not now. That'll only make her angrier – and more hurt. Oh, Merlin, I thought I was doing what was best for her and look what happened!" She sighed shakily and pressed her fingers against her pulsing head. "What was I thinking!"

"You were thinking about me. And I was thinking about you. We have the right to think about each other. It's not as if I cheated on her or something."

Rose knew that he was right, but this thought did little to comfort her. "I have to go," she said.

"I have to mend things with her."

"And what should I do?"

"Went to your patrol duties," the girl answered, "and do them more seriously than ever, because I probably won't be able to do mine this night."

She ran after her cousin and found her in the common room, headed for the girls' dormitories.

"Lily, wait!" Rose caught up with her in front of the stairs. "Wait. Let me explain."

"Explain what? That you and Scorpius are together? I already know this, thank you very much. Just out of curiosity, when exactly did you plan on telling me?"

"Soon," Rose whispered.

"Soon, how soon? Next week? Next year? Next life?"

"I thought I could do it in a way that would be best for you –"

"Best for me?! You thought that snogging the boy that I fancy behind my back would be best for me?! Oh, that's rich."

"No, Lily, you're wrong. It wasn't like that."

But Lily was hardly listening to her cousin's words. "The two of you must have had a good laugh at my expense."

"No, never, I never thought – "

"You never thought of me, you mean?" Lily turned to her cousin and started yelling in a loud voice. "Great, just great! You're going like a slut to snog the boy that you know I fancy and you don't even think of me!"

Rose's eyes flashed, but Lily missed the warning there.

"You called me a slut once and I let you go away with it. You pushed me and I fell. I let you go away with that too. I won't let you insult me anymore, Lily, and if you lay as finger on me, I promise you that you won't like my answer."

"Go to hell."

Lily pushed her and turned aside to go upstairs.

The next moment she was breathless and immobile, because Rose had attacked her from behind.

"If you prefer to settle it this way, I don't mind."

She grabbed Lily's hair in her fist and pulled it hard. Lily howled and hit her in the face. Without releasing her cousin's hair, Rose bit her palm. "Apologize!"

"Like hell I will!"

Lily stepped on her cousin's foot and Rose yelled, when she lost her balance. Despite that, she still managed to drag Lily along with her and the two of them fell on the floor in a tangle of flailing arms and legs.

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James Potter was always a light sleeper, so he awoke as soon as the noise reached his dormitory. He stayed in bed for a moment, trying to decide what had interfered with his nice dream of Quidditch and Nancy Emerson. Then, he heard the voices and the thuds that accompanied them, but he could not quite believe his ears. It was not that the girls in their crowded Potter-Weasley clan did not beat each other with fists, because they did. Rules were different with girls, though: boys could whop each other and hex each other whenever they wanted. They would give each other green hair and bleeding lips without even thinking and receive the joyful retaliation in the form of smelling curses or hexed off pants – nothing was never too cruel for those boys, and the thought that someone might be watching them was the last thing to cross their mind. Girls, on the other hand, were different: at Hogwarts, they always kept the façade of being above such primitive things like physical fights, and that was why James was now wondering whether he had really heard his sister and his cousin fighting, or his nice dream had suddenly turned into a nightmare.

No, it was very real: his dorm mates started stirring; they would wake up any minute now. James left the dormitory as quietly as possible.

He found his way, guided by the female screams. Some of the other Gryffindors were already standing in the common room, but they obviously had no intention to intervene in something that, according to them, was just sheer fun.

Rose had Lily pinned in the floor and was continuously rubbing her face against the floor, evading – not always – Lily's fists and repeating, "Apologize!"

"What the hell are you doing?" James exclaimed. "Leave her alone immediately, Rose!"

"Fine, as soon as she apologizes for calling me a slut twice in less than five minutes!"

"Slut!" Lily was almost crying with pain and anger, but she still managed to yell it. "Now, it's become thrice!"

"Did you hear?" Rose roared. "Did you hear her, James? Take that back, you little mollycoddle – "

"Arggg!"

They rolled on the floor in a mess of tangled legs ad arms. Without the slightest hesitation, James grabbed what parts of them he could reach and tried to separate them, but they tripped him up and he fell on top of them, too. Fortunately, the noise had attracted the attention of other Weasleys, too: Hugo and Molly started pulling their cousins from behind, while Albus and Lucien finally managed to part them. James hurriedly stood between the two girls.

"In my dormitory, now," he ordered.

Lily gritted her teeth at him. "Who made you the boss here?"

"In my dormitory," he repeated, pointing his wand at her. "You can either come by yourself, or be Levitated there. The choice is yours and the same applies to you too, Rose," he added, turning to his cousin, who had just opened her mouth.

The others followed him upstairs, passing right past their giggling and grinning classmates and taking care to leave at least two people between Lily and Rose.

James' dorm mates were all awake by now – all but one. "Outside," James told them shortly; having experience with the Potter-Weasley meetings, the boys immediately decided that they certainly did not need to be here for another one. While the others were pushing Lily onto James' bed and Rose – onto another one, Albus went to Fred Weasley's bed and shook him awake. "Fred, wake up!"

"Go away, Al," Fred muttered.

Al reached for his cousin's blanket and pulled it aside. "My blanket!" Fred cried and opened his eyes.

"Lily and Rose had a fight in the common room and we have to settle this," Al told him.

"Al, if you think that you can come in and wake me each time when – What did you just say?"

"You heard me. Lily and Rose had a fight. With fists. The whole Gryffindor tower probably heard them. We'll lose at least twenty points for this little event. How you could sleep through all of this is beyond me."

Fred stood up and slipped his robe on, then went to join the conversation. "Dear Merlin!" he exclaimed, looking at Rose's cheek. "She gave you a good one, Rosie."

"She won't have another chance," Rose growled.

"What happened?" Molly's voice somehow lessened the tension. She was a fifth year – younger than more of her cousins who were in the same room now – but she always had a calming effect on people. Her father, Charley, was quite good at that, too. "Why, all of a sudden – "

"It's a private problem between Lily and me."

"When one of you calls the other ugly names and you two fight like stray cats, it's not private," Albus stated calmly. "I thought you had Patrol duties this night, Rose."

"Oh, she had more interesting things to do with her time," Lily hissed angrily. "But she's right, that's between the two of us."

"Not quite," Hugo corrected her. "Like it or not, it's between all Gryffindors who heard you and saw you fighting, and the others, who would like to know why we lost – how many?"

"Fifty points," Lucien Weasley, a fifth-year, answered, "I heard Professor Longbottom mentioning it, while I was climbing up."

'Why we lost fifty points. And it certainly is a concern of Scorpius Malfoy." Both Rose and Lily gave him sharp looks, and he shrugged. "You were screaming his name, while you were trying to kill each other," he said. "And I wasn't the only one who heard. Tomorrow morning the whole school will know about that."

"Malfoy?" James asked disbelievingly. "You two fought because of _Malfoy_?"

"No, we fought, because Rose is a liar and a slut!"

"Watch your mouth, Lily!" Molly said sharply. "It's bad enough as it is. We're done with insults for this evening."

"Let her deny it!"

"Lily – " Rose started.

'Let her deny that she was snogging Scorpius, when she knew that I fancied him."

"You found the right words, Lily: you fancy him. He doesn't fancy you. He never did."

"Because he fancies you, you mean?"

Rose shrugged. "I tried to tell you," she said. "I told you again and again that he doesn't like you, but you just refused to accept it."

"And instead of telling me, you chose to snog him behind my back!"

"I didn't want to hurt you, I tried to –"

"To make fun of me?"

'No!" Rose exploded. "We both tried to make you understand that he isn't interested in you, but you just can't accept a refusal, that's it!"

"So it's my fault? How dare you!"

"You can't accept the idea that there is a guy who doesn't like you! Well, Lily, you'll have to go and find someone else, because this one is mine!"

Silence. Slowly, Hugo went to his sister and placed a hand on her back. "Rose," he said, "are you serious? You and Malfoy –"

She sullenly nodded. That was too much for Lily, who stormed out of the room. Hugo stroked Rose's cheek, careful not to irritate the bruised skin, and hurried after Lily.

Rose angrily wiped her tears and started talking. The others listened silently, not once interrupting her.

"I'll never know why you didn't tell her in the very beginning, Rose," Molly finally said. "Very stupid of you."

"I know," Rose sniffed, "but I just wanted to protect her. I didn't want to make her suffer and look what happened!"

"Calm down, little cousin," Fred said darkly, "what is done is done and committing a suicide won't help. Go to your dormitory and try to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day."

Not taking his eyes off her, he held out a hand and James placed ten sickles in it.

"What was that for?" Rose asked suspiciously.

"Nothing of your concern, cousin," James said quickly, "just a little bet that we did a long time ago – "

Silence.

"James Potter, you bet on me and Scorpius?"

"Err, no."

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't lie to me."

"Well, maybe I did. I mean, it was obvious, Rose."

She smiled a little through her tears. "Maybe not so obvious, given the fact that Fred thought the opposite."

"Nay," Fred dismissed her doubts, "I just thought that you'll need more time to figure it out, like the seventh year or something." He sighed. "I kind of hoped we were all wrong, though. Come on, Molly, take her to her room and make sure that she's in bed, snoring."

The two girls left and the guys looked at each other. No one said anything for a very long time. "What are we going to do now?" Al finally asked.

"Well, it's easy," James said. "There is Malfoy – there is a problem. No Malfoy – no problem.'

Al gave his brother a firm glance. "Don't even think of that, James. You _won't_ curse Scorpius. You won't beat him, either, and neither will you," he added, looking at Fred.

"Just a little, Al," James tried to persuade him. "He'll live through it."

'No, there won't be any fight," Albus insisted. "We are in enough trouble as it is. Rose and Lily won't speak to each other and you can't wait of the others to be exactly quiet of what they saw and heard. Until tomorrow afternoon, the family of each and every student here will know in details what happened."

"You mean we'll have to write the family about this before they hear about it from someone else?" Lucien Weasley's deep voice usually contained some of the soft notes of his French mother, but not this time – it came out brisk and worried.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I meant," Al confirmed, and looked around. "Where the hell is Hugo?"

"In detention," Molly said, entering the dormitory. "She's sleeping," she added, noticing her cousins' questioning glances. "I checked on Lily, before coming here, and she's sleeping too. Hugo succeeded in landing himself in detention with Filch – picked his cat by its tail, or so your friends told me, James – and he immediately made him clean the halls or something like that."

"This little cheater!" James exclaimed. "That means that we'll have to be the ones writing to his parents."

"Well," Molly said calmly, "what are we going to do now?"

"Finding quills and parchment," James answered angrily. "I'll write to Mum and Dad and, Al, you can write to Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione."

"Me?" Al groaned. "Why me?"

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**A. N. ****So, what do you think? I loved writing this chapter. Did you like reading it?**

12


	4. He Will Not Allow This!

**Disclaimer: Where are my checks? Why am I living in a small flat with a salary that threatens to end any minute now? Wait, I've got it: that's because I'm not JK Rowling and I own nothing.**

Thanks for all your lovely reviews, it means a lot to me (and my inspiration).

Chapter 4

_A week later…_

Their mother's cooking could not compare to their Grandma's or the house-elves', but Rose and Hugo ate everything, because the journey from Hogwarts had taken its toll from them. Normally, they would have been bubbling with excitement because of the forthcoming Christmas dinner with the whole family, but now, the thought of facing Lily made Rose's blood freeze. They had somehow managed to avoid each other since their confrontation, but it was not easy to pretend that they did not see each other. What on earth would they do in the Burrow face to face, encircled by many caring – and nosy – relatives?! Hugo seemed to share his sister's thoughts, because his face was grim and he ate without looking away from his plate. Their parents looked at each other, concerned, but they were silent too, and finally Rose started to feel like she was attending a lunch after a funeral.

"Everyone ready?" Hermione finally asked, and when the other three murmured 'yes', she pointed her wand at the table, magically clearing all the dishes. After hearing the splashing of water that meant that they were washing themselves in the basin, Rose and Hugo looked at each other and silently agreed that it was time for them to make her escape to their rooms. They made a stealthy step towards the door, than another one –

"Rosie!"

She pretended not to hear her father's voice. Just three more steps –

"Rosie!"

If Ron was to raise his voice a little more, deaf people surely would be able to hear it. Rose sighed and turned to her father. "Yes, Dad?"

"We - your mother and I – need to talk to you."

"I thought so," Rose muttered and sat back on her chair.

"Excuse me?" Hugo asked tentatively. "Do I need to stay here?"

"No, Hugo, you may go," his father dismissed him.

"No, Hugo, stay!"

The boy hesitated again. He had no desire to witness his parents' interrogation, but loyalty came first. He grudgingly went back inside and stood behind his sister's chair, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Hermione smiled inwardly. Being an only child herself, she always loved to watch her children's interactions. Well, not _always_, but in most cases. She vividly remembered the awful sounds of fighting echoing from their room, when they were very little. She had hurried to bring peace and her two children, sparring on the floor, had looked at her with angry surprise, yelling "What are you doing here? No one called you! Get out, get _out_! " Ron, on the other hand, had always accepted the children's quite – err, _active_ quarrels – far more philosophically than her, coming to them and leading her out of the nursery. "Leave them alone, Hermione," he had told her more times than she cared to count, "they'll come to terms by their own." Listening to the thuds and yells from the upper floor, Hermione had had no idea how that would be possible, but, to her greatest surprise, after an hour or so they had always come downstairs incredibly dirty, but beaming and chatting amiably to each other. They were a team, Rose and Hugo, whatever happened – an accidentally animated teddy bear, a broken plate of Hermione's best set, or Malfoy.

Malfoy.

Of all things, Malfoy.

Ron cleared his throat. "Erm – Rosie, I don't know how to start it. You know, your mother and I received an owl from Albus."

He stopped expectantly, but Rose was silent.

"Can you imagine what he wrote us in his letter?"

Silence.

"He said some rubbish about you and – you and – and _Malfoy_." Ron said the last word as if he had foul taste in his mouth.

Again, Rose said nothing. Hugo's hand squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"Is it true?"

Rose nodded.

"What? You mean you really date - ?" It was too much for Ron to say the name.

Rose nodded again.

"What do you mean, nodding like this, Rosie?" Ron asked, hoping against hope that she meant something different than what she actually meant.

"She means 'yes'," Hugo finally said, seeing that his sister had obviously decided neither to say a word, nor look away from the carpet.

"YES!"

Here, it was the explosion they had all waited and dreaded.

"Yes! You mean, you really date Malfoy, this scum, this bag of air, this – "

"He isn't like that, Dad!" Rose spoke for the first time.

"The hell he isn't! An apple can't fall away from the tree and that's a fact. Lucius Malfoy – a Death Eater! Draco Malfoy – a Death Eater, and a real bastard at that! Narcissa Malfoy – a candidate Death Eater! Bellatrix Lestrange – the Mad Death Eater Hag! This family is rotten to the core. They shouldn't be allowed to recreate at all!"

"Good," Hermione interrupted calmly, "then you'd better have a chat with Teddy soon."

Ron blinked at her. Rose and Hugo did the same, all three of them quite uncomprehending. "Teddy?" Ron asked. "What does Teddy have to do with anything?"

"Don't you think he has to know that he and Victoire aren't allowed to have more children? They should be prepared."

"What?"

"He has the Black blood running in his veins, you know. Bellatrix Lestrange's blood."

Ron ran a hand across his face. "Of all the idiotic things – Nothing's wrong with the boy!"

"Does it matter? He shares the same awful, contaminated blood that Narcissa and Scorpius Malfoy have."

Ron shot her a mean glance, but his wife seemed completely undisturbed. "Merlin's pants, Hermione, you can't mix the two things!"

"I can and I will." Hermione smiled at him and took his hand in her own. "Come on, Ron, you've met Scorpius. Has he ever stricken you as highly dangerous?"

Ron angrily shook his head. "No, but he wasn't dating my daughter back then!"

"You think I'm a bad influence on him?" Rose asked, and Ron looked at her, aghast. Rose fought her smile.

"Oh no, now it's the two of you against me. What chance do I have?" He looked from his daughter to his wife and sighed. "I'm worried about you, Rosie. I know you see Scorpius as – well, as just Scorpius, but you have no idea how dangerous his family is."

"I know, Dad," Rose said.

Ron shook his head. "No," he said, "you don't know. You've heard all about this, but it isn't the same thing. They are – they are not good people, Rosie. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing will happen to me," Rose assured him, and allowed herself to smile a little. "Scorpius isn't like that, Dad. I know him."

Ron looked at her eyes, full of confidence. The last thing he wanted was to see those eyes full of disappointment. "Maybe you don't know him as much as you think," he said, trying to be tactful. Judging by the looks his family kept throwing at him, he was not. "I mean, maybe you see what he wants you to see. I mean – "

"We know, Dad," Hugo said. "But you aren't right. Look, Scorpius has been Rose and Al's friend for six years. Do you think it's possible for someone to lie to other people for six years, pretending to be their friend? The cheated one should be very stupid, and Al and Rose certainly aren't."

"Thanks," Rose muttered sarcastically, and he grinned over her head.

"I still don't like it," Ron insisted stubbornly, and Hermione smiled and caressed his hand.

"Honey, you don't need to like it, you just had to tolerate it. Is that too much to ask?"

"I think it is," Hugo whispered in his sister's ear, barely keeping his laughter at his father's forlorn look. Then Ron looked straight at him and Hugo tried to look as serious as possible.

"Take care of her!" Ron ordered angrily, and Hugo grinned and mock-saluted.

"Yes, sir!"

"He already does that!" Rose complained. "Whenever I poke my nose out of the dormitory, he's always there – he or Al, or Molly, or James, or Lucien, or Fred, or Alastor – I think the only times I can remain alone is when I'm going to the bathroom."

"That's to make sure that you and Lily don't kill each other," Hugo defended himself and his cousins. Rose's face immediately fell – the ongoing quarrel with Lily was one of her greatest concerns.

_I can't do anything about it, but no need to worry, Malfoy won't allow his son to have a relationship with Rose_, Ron thought.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

_The same time..._

_Oh no, oh no, it's not him._

_Stop deluding yourself, Draco._

Draco Malfoy took off his traveling cloak and threw it on the first chair that he saw, then he hurried to the living room and, true enough, there were his wife and son sitting at the one end of the table and his parents sitting at the other one. Lucius Malfoy – an imposing figure with his silver hair and grand voice – was in the middle of his heated speech. "I absolutely forbid this disgrace to go on. It was a horrible disrespect to your name and blood and it ends now!"

"It isn't a disgrace – "

Draco cleared his throat. "Hello."

Everybody looked at him: his mother with surprise at not having heard his entering, Astoria with anger for leaving her to deal with his parents all by her own – well, she was quite good at it, so he was not too concerned about her – and his father and Scorpius were both red-faced and so angry that they did not even have any room for surprise.

"Have a nice journey, Scorpius?"

"Yes, Dad."

"That's good."

Draco sat next to Astoria and tried to catch her eye to know what had happened, but she resolutely refused to even look at him. He could draw his conclusions from the red spots on her cheeks, though. She had never got along with his parents, who'd been terrified by his marriage to her – they had relied on the Greengrass' money to repair the damages caused to the Malfoy fortune by the war, but instead of marrying Daphne, he had married her younger sister and her considerable, but less than royal dowry. Usually, Astoria avoided meeting his parents and they avoided meeting her. It was easy to guess what had happened today, after Scorpius' return. Draco silently cursed his timing – he should have been there, instead of letting Astoria meeting his father's fury all by herself. Yet, he had made the appointment in Italy long before he knew what mess his son had gotten himself in. Vellari was one of his oldest business partners and he could not postpone the business trip. _I bet Dad's thrown all sorts of insults at Scorpius while I was gone. No wonder Scorpius is furious._

True enough, almost the same moment that he had thought it, Lucius bellowed, "Don't you dare talk to me this way, Scorpius! It seems that something is seriously wrong with you, otherwise you would have died before even thinking of having a relationship with a blood-traitor, a half-blood – "

"He should have died before – ?" Scorpius' mother interrupted her father in-law, her gray eyes blazing. Draco felt the upcoming explosion that would made everything even worse. He quickly reached for Astoria's hand and squeezed it in a silent plea. At first, she tried to yank it off, but then she looked at him and saw how tired he looked – thoroughly exhausted. Her expression softened and she bit back her furious response.

"She's a girl, a human being, she's great! She's the girl I fancy!" Scorpius said heatedly.

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't. You think you fancy her, but you don't. My grandson, the last of the Malfoy line," here he shot Astoria a nasty look – failing to produce other heirs was one of her many mistakes, "can't be attracted to such a being."

That did it for Scorpius, who had heroically tried to keep at least _some_ composure during the long afternoon fight with his grandfather. Now, the last remnants of his self-control flew through the window and he started yelling, "A being? A _being_? Don't you dare call her names! She's Rose. She's the girl I've fancied for years!"

Everybody gaped at him – all except for his mother. Draco could easily read what she thought _– I told you so_. Maybe it wasn't true, after all. _Maybe he's just trying to piss Dad off completely_, he thought hopefully. _Scorpius in love with a Weasley girl – no, it can't be_.

"You'll break up with her!" Lucius bellowed, reaching for his wand and then withdrawing his hand.

"No."

"You will or I will disinherit you." Lucius had suddenly stopped shouting and his voice was now cold as ice. "You'll leave this house – "

"No."

It was not Scorpius who said it this time but Draco. He had hoped that he would not have to face both his son and his father this evening – Merlin, all he wanted was a cup of tea and a good rest to be able to deal with Scorpius' crush tomorrow – but things had gotten too far.

"No? What do you mean, no?"

"I mean no, Dad." He turned to Scorpius, who looked intended to leave the house if his grandfather said a single word more. "In this entire tirade, your Grandfather forgot to mention only one thing – that this is _my_ house and not his. I decide who stays and who leaves. You aren't going anywhere – well, right now you are going to your room, but nothing more."

"I'm not – "

"Please, Scorpius,' Draco said, "we'll talk about this tomorrow."

Realizing that his staying there would lead only to another shouting match between him and his grandfather, Scorpius nodded. "Goodnight, then. Mum. Dad. Grandma." He deliberately chose to omit Lucius – his final provocation to his grandfather.

Of course, he did not go to his room. Instead, he squatted next to the door to eavesdrop on their further conversation.

"Dear God, this boy has no wizard pride, no respect to his seniors and no choice in picking girlfriends."

"I'm sorry you think that," Astoria said in level voice.

"Lucius doesn't really mean that – " Narcissa began, knowing in advance that her attempt to reconcile the arguing parties would lead to nothing – her earlier attempts had failed, after all.

"I mean just that – "

"Oh, please, can't you stop?" Draco asked tiredly. "Dad, can't you understand that talking about Scorpius in this way means criticizing _us_?"

"I don't think you're very sensible parents, considering the upbringing that you gave to your son."

Again, Astoria bristled with anger, but Draco gave her a quick look and said as calmly as he could, 'Those are harsh words and completely untrue. Scorpius is well-mannered."

"He has no idea of his duties, no respect for the purity of his blood, no sense to associate with the right people – "

"For Merlin's sake, Dad, do you hear yourself? He's a sixteen-year old boy who has his first crash, nothing more. I don't like it more than you do, but it won't last long. He isn't going to marry her or anything."

"Who knows? He won't be the first Malfoy who marries an inappropriate woman."

This time, it was too much for Astoria to bear. She stood up, her face burning. "Leave," she said in a cold voice.

"You won't tell me – "

"Oh, Dad, just leave," Draco sighed. "Don't do it worse than it already is."

Narcissa finally managed to drag her husband out of the living room – Scorpius had prudently hid behind the staircase, so they did not see him, - then out of the house, and finally, there was a blessed silence. Scorpius stealthily went back to the door to see if he could hear something more.

"Merlin's beard, it's finally over," he heard his father's voice and suddenly realized how tiredly it sounded.

"You're telling me!" Scorpius' mother was fuming with anger. "You're going to a business trip and leaving me alone to deal with your awful father and now 'it's finally over'. I should be the one telling you this – I and Scorpius! We spend the whole afternoon with your parents, listening to Lucius' insults – did you hear him? 'The last of the Malfoy line', he said and looked at me as if I were a cow unfit for breeding!"

"I'm sorry."

"Well, you should be! And you just stood there, and let him say this to me – no, don't try to placate me! Do you have any idea how furious I am, Draco? As if shouting at Scorpius was not enough, he stabbed me in my most sore spot – you know how much I want another child, more than he does!"

"If I wanted a bunch of children, I would have hardly chosen a tender body like yours, with such thin thighs." Draco was still trying to calm her down. "Daphne was far more suitable, don't you think?"

Now, Astoria felt insulted. "If I am so unfit for this purpose, why the hell did you marry me?"

"Only Merlin knows!" Finally, Draco's patience had worn out. "Not because of your nice character, that's for sure!"

Ling silence. Then, soft laughter – Scorpius' mother had finally started to placate. His father chuckled tiredly. "You're taking Scorpius' news surprisingly well," Astoria said.

"Oh, I don't like the idea of him being with the Weasley girl not one bit," Draco said, "but first, what's the point of trying to dissuade him? It'll only antagonize him."

"Too true," Astoria said.

"Second, he's sixteen and I really believe what I said earlier – he'll grow tired of her, eventually. He's my son, after all. " Scorpius could tell that his father was smiling. "When I was his age, I thought I fancied that stupid Pansy Parkinson. Do you remember her, Astoria? Meanwhile you were patiently waiting for me to come around."

"I was not. If you remember, you were not a likeable person back then," she said. "God, each time I entered the common room, I scanned it for you, thinking 'Let him not be around. Let him not be around.'"

"Third," Draco continued, pretending not to have heard her objection, "her family would put an end to this sooner than you expect. Weasley just won't let his daughter being involved with _my_ son."

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**Next chapter – Lily goes to... no, I'm not telling you ****anyting! You'll have to wait and see. Review, please!**


	5. Visiting Victoire

**Disclaimer: Let me tell you the three things that I am not: I am not an Egyptian pharaoh, I am not male, and I am not Jo Rowling. I do not own Egypt, I do not own male anatomy, and I do not own Harry P****otter.**

_Hello, my lovely reviewers, I am back! And you are as wonderful as ever. Thank you so much!_

Chapter 5

_Four days later…_

Lily Potter _hated_ her life. She hated her mother's questioningly raised eyebrows, she hated Albus' hesitant attempts at conversation that inevitable ended with the suggestion that maybe Lily should go and talk to Rose, and she hated James' ideas of remedying the situation by killing or dismembering Scorpius Malfoy. Oh, it was not because she cared about   
Scorpius' wellbeing, it was just because she did not want her brother ending in Azkaban because of that.

Lily Potter hated Scorpius Malfoy, too, for making her look like a fool. All he had to do was say 'I like Rose" to stop her from following him all around and humiliating herself, but no, he had to keep his secret and let her live in her happy illusion that one day she could win him over from his imaginary girlfriend. Who was not so imaginary, after all. He must have enjoyed her crush on him – that must have done wonders for his self-esteem!

She hated her cousin, too. Rose was supposed to be her best friend and yet, she had stolen Scorpius from right under her nose! Best friends do not do that to one another and neither do cousins! Lily had thought that Rose cared about her as much as she herself had cared about Rose, but obviously that was not the case. Obviously, some stupid guy was more important for Rose than Lily.

What had Scorpius seen in Rose, anyway? She was not beautiful! Well, she was not ugly, of course, in fact, she was rather pretty, but Lily looked far better than her and that was not Lily's vanity talking, it was a fact: wherever the two cousins went, boys always stared after Lily, not Rose. Why the hell was Scorpius Malfoy different? He was the only one whose opinion mattered and he had chosen _Rose_ instead of her? Rose, who could literally wear the same robes for three days, only Scourgifying them to keep them clean? Rose, who could not be bothered even to tame her bushy hair? Rose, who practically lived in the library? Rose, the bookworm, who thought that everything in the world could be solved by logic? If a guy told Rose that she'd broken her heart, she would go to the library and check whether there was a way to mend it! And Scorpius had chosen _her_?

Lily had not even realized that she was walking so angrily in London streets that people quickly stepped out of her way. She did not know where she was going to, but when someone familiar bumped into her, she was happy that she finally had found a victim to land her nasty mood onto.

Only, it seemed that Teddy Lupin had enough on his plate as it was, without Lily adding to it. His brown hair was sticking in all directions and his eyes were red – no, not as a result of morphing, just bloodshot, as if he had not slept in days – and looking wildly around. His face was pale and sunken. "Lily!" he exclaimed.

"Good God, Teddy, what happened?" she asked and while he was processing her question, as if his brain hurt, she looked around and for a first time she realized where she was: in front of the house where Teddy, Victoire, and their two children lived in. With something like shame, she realized that she had not even come to see the newborn baby, Julia – she had been preoccupied with the whole Scorpius/Rose affair.

He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to work," he announced with a maniacal grin, his face beaming.

"And _that _makes you so happy?" Lily asked suspiciously. Perhaps she should take him to St. Mungo's, instead? Maybe Teddy had gotten some mental disorder?

"Peace and rest, finally," the young Metamorphmagus explained. Unfortunately, Lily did not understand that, either. "Poor Vickie, I feel so bad for her, she has to stay with the little monster the whole day – maybe my Gran will come and stay with her a little – I can Floo her from work – "

Lily blinked, and then again. "Teddy," she said, "I am already here, so I can go in and stay with Victoire for a while."

Teddy's face lit up, he grabbed Lily and kissed her on the cheek. 'You are a lifesaver, Lily," he exclaimed. "Have I told you that I love you?"

Lily laughed nervously. "And yet, you married Victoire and not me," she said, clinging to him. She had always felt good with Teddy holding her, ever since she was born – he had looked so big then and she had felt so safe and protected.

The passers-by turned their heads to have a better view of them. Some of them started muttering and Lily clearly heard the word 'child-molester'. She blushed furiously, but fortunately, Teddy had not heard that.

"Well, I'd better come in," she said. "You know, I haven't seen the baby yet."

Teddy nodded and started walking away. Lily thought that she had heard something that sounded like "You can trust me, you don't want to," but she was not quite sure. She knocked at the front door and entered.

The incredible noise that greeted her made her want to turn back and leave. Instead, she followed the loud wailing to the living room, where she found both Victoire and the children. She felt her jaw dropping. Her ever so posh cousin was now wearing a blouse that was covered with vomit, her long white-blond hair was unwashed, and her eyes wore the same maniacal, desperate gleam that Lily had seen in Teddy's eyes only minutes earlier. The one month-old Julia was shouting at the top of her lungs in her mother's arms, despite all the rocking and whispering that Victoire was applying, and Alan was yelling that she was a bad girl and please, _please_, Mummy, please, send her back!

For a moment, Lily was tempted to turn round and leave, before someone could spot her, but then something stopped her. Alan's chin was trembling and there were tears in his eyes. Victoire looked like she would burst in tears any minute because of pure exhaustion. Sighing, Lily touched Alan's shoulder and when he looked at her, she put her best smile on. "Hello, Alan," she said. "Do you remember me? I am Lily."

The four year-old slowly nodded.

"I'll make you a nice breakfast, right, Vickie?" she asked her cousin.

"Oh, thank you, Lily," Victoire whispered gratefully.

An hour later, Alan was fed and finally taken to his friend Jake's house. Julia had stopped crying and had fallen asleep and Victoire even had the time to take a shower.

"She's a colicky baby," she explained to Lily, while she was drying her hair. "Last night, she didn't let us sleep even for a moment. Alan was quite pissed off – so were Teddy and I, if I have to be honest here. Do you want some coffee?"

"Yes, please."

The two cousins went to the kitchen and Victoire magicked a cup of tea for Lily. Victoire herself was a coffee drinker and Lily was surprised that she did not prepare a cup for herself. She told her that.

"I am a suckling mother," Victoire explained, looking hungrily at Lily's coffee. "I can't afford such things."

"Oh."

Then, Victoire took a bar of chocolate from the cabinet and looked at it longingly. "Victoire?" Lily asked hesitantly. "Vickie? What are you doing?"

"I'm imagining that I'm eating it," her cousin replied, "that makes me feel better."

_Those poor kids_, Lily thought, _what would happen to them if both their parents go crazy?_

They were silent for a while, Lily drinking her coffee and Victoire drinking her tea and eating her imaginary chocolate.

"Vickie?" Lily finally asked. "Is that the way you imagined your life, when you married Teddy?"

Victoire laughed. "Baby vomit, sleepless nights and total diet? Not quite!"

"Are you sorry?"

Victoire looked at her, amused. "Sometimes. It's inevitable. Like this morning."

"But are you happy?"

"Very happy."

Lily had almost expected a lecture of how she would understand one day, when she is older, but she had picked the wrong person: that was something that her Mum or her Grandma would say, or even her Aunt Hermione. One of the reasons for Victoire being Lily's favorite between her older cousins was that Vickie _never_ treated her like a baby.

"Vickie?"

"Yes?" Victoire tensed, checking the Supersensory Charm, but fortunately, it was only her nerves, playing tricks on her: there was no noise in Julia's room.

"Why did you start playing Quidditch?"

Lily loved asking unexpected questions: she knew that she would have a better chance at getting an answer if the other person is unprepared, and up until now, no one had ever succeeded in leading Victoire to confess the reason for her sudden attraction to Quidditch.

'Because it was the only way of having Teddy separated from his girlfriend of the time. She would not leave him alone for a minute except for Quidditch practices!" Victoire recollected, and then decided that today, she deserved a piece of _real_ chocolate, so she tore the wrapper and attacked the dark mass. She was kind enough to offer Lily a piece, too. "It was point number three in Get Teddy plan. And then I continued playing, because I found out that I loved doing it."

Lily giggled. "Get Teddy plan?" she repeated. "Isn't that a bit – I don't know, a bit too neatly organized? I mean – points and numbers!"

Victoire had closed her eyes and was savoring the chocolate taste on her tongue. "All is fair in love and war," she said.

Lily was silent. Her cousin's words suddenly reminded her about her own love problems. Should she try and make a Get Scorpius plan? It had obviously worked for Victoire, so why not for her, too?

Victoire opened her eyes and looked at Lily. "I know how it feels to be a little schoolgirl who has a hopeless crush on an older boy – cool and popular," she said quietly. "I know how euphoric you feel when he does as much as look at you and then how the world ends, when he walks in another direction without even realizing that you were looking at him. I don't doubt what lies in your heart, Lily."

"I love him." There was a challenge in Lily's voice, because she already knew what Victoire was trying to tell her. "And she knew that."

"It's hard to have feelings for someone who doesn't feel the same for you."

"He might have felt the same, but she fell on his neck."

'Lily, dear!"

"Well, Teddy finally fell for you, you said it yourself! And the two of you got married. You have two kids. It worked for you, so why not for me too?"

"Teddy did not have someone else to love, Lily, and that makes the whole difference."

Lily laughed scornfully. "You took him from another girl, everyone knows that!"

"From other girls," Victoire corrected her. "He dated half of the female population at Hogwarts and that's a fact. But they were just for snogging, nothing else, and I knew that. I am the only one that he has really fancied."

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it. Victoire took Lily's hand in her own.

"Scorpius likes Rose," she said gently. "He has fancied her for a long time. And she likes him back. They are not irresponsible and they don't want to hurt anyone. You know that, don't you?"

"But they were not responsible towards me."

"They are still in the euphoric stage of their relationship, when they can't think straight. And yet, I doubt that Rose really wanted to hurt you. I don't know Scorpius that well, but I'd say that he isn't the type to deliberately play with other people's feelings, too."

Her blue eyes were full of sympathy and that made Lily feel like a bigger fool than even the realization that Rose had dated Scorpius behind her back had made her feel.

"You've talked to her."

Victoire did not deny it. "Yes. And I think you should talk to her too. And when I say talking, I mean talking – not fighting."

Lily's face turned red like her hair. "She started it!" she said, realizing how childish she had sounded, but she did not care. "She did!"

"So I've heard. But she was out of herself, wasn't she? You drove her mad." Lily sullenly refused to answer. "You should talk to her. You both _need_ to talk. Promise me?"

"I'll think about it," Lily said, "I'm not promising anything."

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_The same evening…_

"Hi, Oldie," Scorpius said. He had long ago forgotten the name of the oldest house-elf in Malfoy Manor – if he had ever known it, of course. Oldie had looked ancient even when Scorpius was a toddler, so he had named him Oldie and the other family members had followed his example. He took off his coat and gloves and looked guiltily at the old elf, who was already opening his mouth, no doubt to scold him. "I know that they are dirty, but I had a sort of accident and – "

"Master Scorpius," the house-elf interrupted him in low whisper, frantically looking around to make sure that no one could hear them. "Master Scorpius, you must go upstairs as quickly as possible, making no noise."

"Why?" Scorpius asked. "What happened? I know I'm late for the family's dinner, but – "

"FINALLY!"

Scorpius looked at the door of the dining room. "Nice to see you too, Grandfather," he said pleasantly.

Lucius, however, was not being pleasant at all. "I was at Diagon Alley today and I saw you."

"You did?"

"Were you kissing with the Weasley girl in Fortescue's?"

"Yes."

"So you were snogging, as the Muggles put it?"

"Yes."

"I don't want to see you doing that ever again!"

"Then don't peek!" Scorpius snapped and went upstairs, to his father's old room.

Lucius went back to the dining room and started ranting about his grandson having no pride, putting the family name to shame and that maybe the blood-traitor had given him some Love Potion or something. Astoria barely kept her anger, but not for long. When she started making sarcastic remarks, Draco sighed and thought angrily, _If he hadn't been caught kissing her, I could have enjoyed a calm family dinner. Where the hell is Weasley, when you need him?_

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**Like it? Hate it? I really want to know****, so leave me a review!**

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	6. Plans and Ends

TSATF 6

_Disclaimer: Of course I own everything! It's only that… err… I don't._

**Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. I'm sorry for the long delay. The alternating of lack of time and writers' block is a killer!**

Chapter 7

_Two days later…_

"So, Uncle George?"

George knew what was coming and tried to avoid it.

"I've always loved coming to the Burrow," he said sentimentally. "My dear old place, it seems like yesterday when we – "

"Uncle George – "

"Yes, Rose?"

"Can I have the potion?"

"Hush! Talk quietly," George hissed, looking warily for his mother or worse – Rose's mother – at the Burrow, you could never know who would pop in the room any minute.

Rose looked disappointed. George sighed – he hated to see the little ones disappointed, especially when he was the reason. Rose had asked him for this particular favor three days ago and he had sail that he would consider it. Unfortunately for Rose, he had decided that helping his niece improve her looks would not worth risk the wrath of his sister in-law.

Unless, of course…

"You don't want the potion for yourself, do you?"

Rose blinked and looked at him with big, confused eyes – the picture of innocence. "Of course I want it for myself – "

George grinned, now completely sure about his conclusion. "No, you don't. Look, tell your good old Uncle what's going on and maybe, when you come to the jokeshop tomorrow morning, I'll look to the other side – "

Faced with this promise, Rose did not hesitate. "For Fred and James."

Now, it was George's turn to blink confusedly. Then, he burst out laughing. "Fred and James!" he hiccupped. "You want them to sprout boobs?"

Rose nodded. "That's exactly what I want."

George started laughing harder. "I'll give you the strongest potion," he promised. "The effect will last a whole day. Now, can I get to know what they did to deserve your fury?"

"Let's say that they made a bet on something that was none of their business," she said.

"And _that's_ it?"

Rose sighed, irritated. "They promised me that they would _never_ bet on me again," she said. That had happened a few years ago, when her cousins had bet against each other about her love life and James, desperate that he was going to lose, had fed her a love potion and made her fall in love with Zach Burns. Some of the things that she had done in her inebriated state were so shameful that Rose felt the blush creeping up on her cheeks even now. They had promised that they would never bet on her again and being the stupid girl that she was, she had _believed_ them. No, Fred and James deserved to be punished. They would be punished.

"Good," George said, smiling. "I suppose every prankster should get pranked from time to time – that refreshes the brain, believe me. So, tomorrow morning I'll be expecting you."

"I love you, Uncle George!" Rose exclaimed and hugged him affectionately. "You are my favorite saint! Each night before I go to bed, I will pray to you: Dear Holey Uncle George, send me more of your wonderful products."

"I am touched." George wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and they shook on the deal.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

James Potter was standing at the doorway, looking suspiciously at their hands. He knew what a handshake with Uncle George meant, having too much experience with those himself.

Fortunately, Rose was saved before James' suspicions could take a more distinct shape. Her rescuer was, the surprise of all surprises, Lily Potter, who entered the room and looked at her. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," Rose said, trying to hide her surprise.

"Are the things going to be all right again?" James gasped.

His uncle firmly took him by the shoulder and led him towards the door. "What's going on here is not meant for our ears, James."

The boy looked astounded by his uncle's unexpected sensibility. Things got clearer only when George closed the door behind them and then immediately let go off James and they both pressed their ears against the door.

Inside, Lily and Rose were looking at each other. Neither of them knew how to start this conversation. Finally, Lily said, "I was at Victoire's a few days ago. She told me that you really never meant to hurt me… or lie to me."

Rose nodded. "That's true."

"But somehow, you managed to do both." Lily's voice was neither angry, nor questioning – she was just stating a fact.

"I know and I am sorry. More than you can possibly imagine."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lily asked. "All you had to do was say, 'He's mine' and everything would have been so simple."

Rose folded her arms across her chest, searching for answer. "I don't know," she replied honestly. "I was afraid."

Lily nodded. "Good." She smiled. "I am glad to know that you were afraid. That day, you almost pull my hair up by the roots."

"You had some good blows, too."

Lily shrugged. "Comes from living with two brothers, I suppose. Sorry for calling you… what I called you. And sorry for really meaning it."

Rose rolled her eyes. "I swear in Merlin's beard, Lily, you have no rivals in the field of apology."

" Right." Lily grinned. "But I want you to tell me something."

"What is it?"

"Does he kiss as greatly as you can imagine just looking at him?"

"Do I have to answer that question?"

"You already did," Hugo said darkly, entering the room, followed closely by James. "You just gave me nightmares for the next month, Rose. Do you know what kind of trauma may I get for being forced to listen to the details about my sister's sex life?"

Rose huffed. "Nobody _forced_ you to listen," she reminded her brother. "And you didn't get any trauma two years ago, when you spied on Mum and Dad in their bedroom."

James and Lily burst out laughing. Hugo's face turned scarlet. "I never did such a thing!" he cried indignantly.

Rose only arched an eyebrow.

"That's – that's – hilarious," James finally managed to say between his fits. "Ickle Hughie… ickle Hughie was very, _very_ curious, who knew that? Out Hughie – "

Hugo gritted his teeth at his sister, but blew his anger at James by knocking him down on the floor. Immediately after that he turned on his cousin, who responded in the typical family manner.

Rose and Lily tried to separate the two boys, but without much success. They were just going to call someone to help, when the help itself appeared, taking the form of Teddy Lupin, who had come to tell them that lunch was ready.

One quick look was enough for the young Metamorphmagus to realize what the situation was. "Grandma Molly!" he called. "Come here and see your grandsons playing fools."

James and Hugo immediately let go of each other and looked around in fear. Teddy smirked. "I won," he declared.

"That was cheating!" James cried.

"No, that was winning the battle without a single blow. Come on, lunch is ready."

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_Two days later…_

"She's all wet!" Scorpius cried disgustedly. "She's making _me_ wet!" Now, he sounded panicked, while he was keeping Julia at an arm's length from his body.

Rose laughed, Teddy grinned, and Victoire said gently, "That's something that babies do quite often, Scorpius."

"Yes, I know, but did she really have to do it _all over me_?"

Rose looked at the undoubtedly smug expression on Julia's little face. "I think that the answer is 'yes'," she said honestly.

Scorpius only groaned.

"Rosie, Rosie, look at me!" Alan was jumping on the sofa to attract Rose's attention, changing his hair long and silver, like his mother's. Rose smiled at him.

"Very impressive, young sir. Now, can you make your eyes match it?"

Alan's face lit up "Do you want me to?"

Rose nodded. "Yes, I do."

The little boy immediately changed his eyes silver, then both hair and eyes blue, then green, then –

"Scorpius!" he yelled indignantly. "You're not looking at me. Don't you like me morphing?"

"I simply love your morphing," Scorpius lied and prayed for it to be over soon.

Victoire stood up. "I'll go to see whether the dinner is ready," she said.

Her son had heard his favourite word. "Dinner!" he screamed and ran in the kitchen. Almost immediately, there was a sound of breaking glass which turned out to be enough to make Julia burst into loud wails.

"How many times did I have to tell him!" Teddy exclaimed and started rocking the baby.

Scorpius looked at Rose, completely dumbfounded. "Dear Merlin, Rose! How can two children manage to create such havoc?"

"That's one of the unsolved mysteries of the humankind," the girl answered dryly and hurried to help Victoire.

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_An hour later…_

Ron's face appeared in the fire almost immediately after Teddy threw the Floo Powder in the flames. "So?" he asked eagerly.

Teddy grinned. "Mission accomplished."

The relief that appeared on Ron's face was almost comic. "Are you sure?" he asked. "How did you do it?"

Teddy shrugged. "It's a secret," he said. "It's enough for you to know that you won't have any Malfoy grandchildren while Rose is still at Hogwarts."

Ron started smiling. "That's good."

"Now, about my end of the bargain," Teddy said. "Tomorrow at six?"

"I'll be there," Ron promised.

A few minutes later, Teddy had finished his conversation with Ron and was making another Firecall. This time, it was Astoria Malfoy who answered him. "Teddy!" she smiled, when she saw him. "How are you? How is Victoire? And how are the children?"

"Everyone is okay, Astoria," Teddy said. He had always been fond of her. "I'm afraid that Scorpius will be a little shaken when he gets home. My monsters were completely uncontrollable."

She smiled. "So that was your great plan? To scare him and Rose out of their wits?"

Teddy laughed without denying.

"You know, you would have dealt very well in Slytherin," Astoria said slowly.

Teddy grinned again. "Was that a compliment?"

"Well, yes. Thank you. I am really awfully young for becoming a grandmother."

"And too beautiful," the young Metamorphmagus winked.

Her lips twitched. "I'll take them on Sunday at four o'clock."

Teddy choked. "When your in-laws are visiting? Lucius will have a heart attack!"

Astoria smiled slowly. "That, my dear Teddy," she said slowly, as if she were talking to a very small child, "is the whole idea."

Teddy grinned back, already planning the two romantic evenings that he was going to surprise Victoire with. He had already done the most hardest task – he had managed to find babysitters for the two kids.

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**And that was it. I'll miss that story, although I am glad that I finished it. I'll appreciate it if you tell me what you think about this final chapter. **

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